Shinigami's Final Song
by Tsuki Doriimaa
Summary: New mission comes in and all the guys are on it. Split into 2 and 3 person teams one team comes back with an injured member. How long will he stay that way, and what, will he do if he can't fight??


~ Shinigami's Final Song ~  
By: Anime Redneck  
3-20-03  
  
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Chapter One: 'Time Out'  
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They had just gotten back from the mission; destroying two OZ bases had split them into an uneven numbered groups. Wing Zero, Deathscythe Hell and Nataku headed the southern Mexico where the largest base was supposedly 'hidden' from them. While Sandrock and Heavyarms headed over to Oklahoma where informants whispered of a new bases resurrection... though word had it, that the locals (loving country folk) were putting up quite a fight to save their planting fields from becoming a military base... sadly, they were loosing.  
  
The two pilot team went over without much a fight. The locals saw them coming and much to the little blonde's delight, knew to get as far from the fight as possible. The few mobile suites the starting base had for protection proved not enough as they ploughed straight through them and landed to start crushing the half finished base and people there. The locals would handle the rest. It was their land after all.  
  
Perfect, Death and Dragon ran into more resistance then had previously been logged into the reports. As soon as they showed up the base exploded with Aries and Leos swarming. Taking half the fleet down was moderately easy; they thought they had made some leeway.  
  
They thought wrong.  
  
Half the suits they took down left the other half to be taken out, but then for the half destroyed, three fourths that number showed back up. Seemed never ending for the three, but through some miracle, they had the enemy destroyed, base blown to hell and had headed back.  
  
Four of the five pilots were unharmed, minor scratches and burses where the blasts kicked them from the chair slamming into the harness. They currently were waiting for the fifth member of their group to dislodge himself from Deathscythe Hell so they could start for the safe house. However, Duo didn't seem to be coming out anytime soon... it was starting to get a little nervous standing at the feet of the large giant whose green eyes had gone dead shortly after landing.  
  
Questions like, 'Where was Duo? Was he hurt?' were flying through the others minds as they stared, and waited, and waited...  
  
With a growl of anger or worry the other didn't know as Wufei hit the hidden lift panel, watching impatiently as it lowered. Climbing onto it and riding back up the caramel skinned Chinese let a string of worries out in his native tongue in a huff. He wasn't worried (so he kept trying to convince himself) about the other; he was upset for having to wait on the slow braided American boy. Always holding something up for them...  
  
He sighed fingering the access panel. That wasn't true. Not in the least. Duo's always been there for us - for me. He never tried to hold us up at all. More like trying to push us along for taking too long! Chuckling as the cockpits door started its removal he smirked. So full of life and energy... it's amazing he doesn't make the animals and nature jealous for his shinning light.  
  
The black chest hatch slid open with a double hiss, the mechanical one of opening, and human one of pain; with it brought a string of curses that made one pale Arabian blush.  
  
Wufei's breath hitched in his throat as swirls of gray smoke cleared from the cockpit thinking the worst for his friend... slowly, that worry turned into grim humor as he noticed the different languages passing rose lips before him. Deciding it was best to let the other get it out of his system Wufei stood back and listened quietly, smirk on his lips as the braided pilot switched back to English for the third time.  
  
Hissing once again trying to move his stubborn leg Duo grimaced glaring at the offending limb. "...Kami-sama shimatta... no good two timing little fucker... just *HAD* to go and do that didn't you!? Now look at me you little shit..." more curses followed, each one more vehement then the last, light humor hiding behind some of them for his current condition and blight.  
  
How the Hell was he supposed to get out of Scythe like this!? He couldn't move his knee... Oh yeah, he could move it alright, with a hot flash of pain ripping through it and up his calve he could move it. Sure thing! "Hell I will!" He was perfectly content to sit there and rot 'til his knee decided to heal on its own.  
  
But... as Fate would once again meddle in his life, he couldn't do that 'cuase that'd make everyone else worried about him and least of all he didn't want to worry his Asian friends... they seemed to be... protective, of him...  
  
Not that he minded, oh no! He loved it. Loved them, not that he planned on telling them that though. This was war and it was Hell of an uncertain one! He wasn't' going to go professing love and then loose one of them! 'Better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all.' his mind threw back at him. He snorted at it though, still glaring at his knee. He'd lost too many people close to him to take that chance again. No... he'd tell them one day and 'til then... he had to figure out how the hell to get down.  
  
"Pain in the ass! Well, no knee... Damnit! Why'd you have to go and do that huh!? Now I'm stuck here in this damn cockpit - No offence Scythe ol' buddy but this chair ain't *that* comfortable! - not being able to move 'cause of YOU!! And THEN-" his tirade was cut short, glaring switched from his knee to the seemingly opened on it's own door.  
  
Duo had grace enough to blush looking into amused almond eyes. "Hi Fei." Great, he was standing there the whole time wasn't he?  
  
"Duo" the Chinese nodded at him, smirk wanting to widen at the blinking violets. Seems I threw him off thought with not using his last name, hmm... must remember to do that more often. Maybe, he pondered slowly stepping into the darkened space, I can get Yuy - Heero - to do the same. It would be quite entertaining to see *that* reaction.  
  
"Need help there?"  
  
"Umm... ah..." blinking again from sudden shift from 'proper' to 'common' Duo was trying to wrap his brain around why his Dragon friend had switched name uses on him. He didn't mind it, no it was just... well... sudden... unexpected? Both! Heh "Yeah" finally nodding to the other pointing to his leg, "I can't move it Fei."  
  
Hearing the dispirited tone of the others voice Wufei's lips twisted from smirk to frown in swift time as he knelt down beside the chair. Sending the American a quick apologetic look he started to lightly press areas of the leg moving towards the knee. It wasn't until his index and middle fingers prodded at the tip and sides that Duo let out a curdling yelp, hands reaching out for something and squeezing hard, trying to rid some of the pain from his being into whatever he'd grabbed.  
  
Unfortunately for Wufei, that something was his shoulder. Grimacing in pain for both himself and the braided boy, he knew he'd have bruises there later, but his lightly bantering comrade was in much more pain then he looked. It would take a lot of time for this injury to heal, if it was as he thought. Carefully he retracted his hands, slowly working the ones gripping him in a vice grip from his shoulders, soothingly rubbing his thumbs in circular motions over the palms.  
  
"Duo...?"  
  
Creamy lids fluttered as eyes moved beneath their clinched shades but didn't open.  
  
"Duo? Open your eyes Duo; you'll be fine..." that wasn't truly the truth. Indeed he would in time, but right now as Duo would say... 'Was going to be hell' for him, "Come on Duo, we need to remove you from here into the safe house."  
  
"... it hurts..."  
  
"I know it hurts Duo... but we've got to get you out of here somehow." Frowning as he kept soothing the hands he held, "I will not lie to you, it will 'hurt like hell' to move you from here to a bed, but it must be done or you will risk injuring your knee further." He really wanted to ask what the other had done for his knee to become in that state, but it wasn't the time or place to bring it up.  
  
"...okay... help..." blinding reaching out, the pain too great to open his eyes Duo wrapped slender arms around the strong warm neck and shoulders before him. He was glad, in that pain fuzzed mind that someone had come for him and it was Wufei. Facing of the others wasn't something he was up to at the moment.  
  
"Hold on now" the Chinese's voice was surprisingly soft, worried, "this is going to hurt Duo..." surreptitiously slipping hands from around Duo's waist to under his legs and back, careful of the injured knee, Wufei wished there was another way to get the boy from cockpit without further hurting him. But it was only wishful thinking; there was no other way that wouldn't cause him harm. Steeling him self, as well as the body he held close to his chest, Wufei rose refusing the urge to wince as nails dug into his back and seeing the other's right knee turn oddly to the left as it left the ground.  
  
That was indeed not reassuring...  
  
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Watching Wufei ride the lift up Deathscythe Hell's chest worried me. Usually Duo was down and out before the lot of us crowing about kicking OZ's preverbal ass while bouncing around. Yet... here we three stood waiting while the fourth rose above us and there was no sign of what was keeping the braided boy.  
  
Duo is a loveable spirit, thriving on the adrenaline rush he gets from battles - don't get me wrong he hates fighting and killing with a passion like that of the Dragon's justice, but it has to be done. He thrives on being around people, making them react to him, to the world around him. His spirit is the brightest I've seen in my near sixteen summers.  
  
He is a part of us. We're a part of him. He is a part of nature.  
  
It's strange at that, I believe, how we've come to form a sort of family out of the five of us. I've always had a large family (twenty-nine sisters large) so I've been accustomed to being around others, talking to others. I'm comfortable like that. I'm open and care for every one of my friends here, I would gladly trade my life if it meant saving one of them. We all would, but we are not so caught up in caring for one another that we would forgo the nature of our seeming existence. To stop the war. We know, and understand this fact... Our lives would be for naught if we cannot stop the fighting among the peoples.  
  
Trowa Barton has never known his family. Never known anything other then his comrades while a Missionary... And only recently found out that Cathy he works with at times for cover is indeed his blood sister. That came as a shock to him, understandably. He's a quiet boy, just as so as the Japanese pilot is. Trowa never says much, and it's hard to read his facial expressions from the half face-covering veil of hair he keeps with. Yet you can tell slightly what he feels from the one eye shown. And still yet, if one cannot figure out his feelings that way, there is always reading his body language. Though I admit, even that at times is very difficult to do. He has such a graceful way of moving, fighting... He's a beauty to behold. I can feel my face tingle with warmth as I glance away from the boy... young man that has come to be the keeper of my heart.  
  
Heero Yuy has only had on person in his life whom he considered a family member. Odin Lowe, his mentor and trainer before he was picked up by that estranged man Dr. J. He has no past he recalls. Believes he has no future. So for him, it is quite difficult to adjust living with four other people who he has come to regard as comrades that will watch his back, who he can trust. And God willing a little more time together, he'll feel more set with calling us his friends. Oh I have no doubt that he considers us his friends... it's just, he never says it... Then again, I shake my head, he never says a lot of things besides that accursed 'Hn'. But this is the Japanese pilot 01 for you. He's really a nice fellow... standoffish, quiet, poker faced... I refuse to giggle, but nice.  
  
Chang Wufei... Now this young man is truly a mystery to more then just me. He is almost (dare I say) as closed off as the other quiet members of this group, this family. There is little known on Chang Wufei, the Chinese pilot from L5. He has suffered great losses in his short lifetime, we all have. But I feel his have hit him so much more then we'll ever understand. I have a information sheet on him (as I do the others and they me) that states he is of Chinese descent, from L5 and that he is the soul survivor and heir of the Dragon Clan. His colony had self-detonated right before his eyes. Everyone he loved gone in an instant.  
  
That is a mighty burden to bare, the weight of knowledge that their sacrifice was done so the OZ forces could not use them against the kind pilot. I have an inkling something else troubles this young man. He is mourning... for something more then just his colony and Clan. I have yet to know what though. He has proven to be a strong able youth in mind, body and soul. He treasures the finer, simpler things in life. Things people long ago forgot about. He hold Honor, Justice and Friends in high regards. Allah have pity on the man that goes against either of those or does harm to his friends. They will see swift judgment for their crimes.  
  
He fights bravely, covers our backs in a tight situation, will give his all to see the war finished and his friends safe... And yet... Yet he does not say anything about it. Most confusing, and I guess, humbling in a way. You cannot be in his debt; he won't allow it. You try doing something to repay him and he waves it off as nothing. The charming thing I find about him - yes charming - is that he hides this side of himself, this soft caring Wufei, behind an arrogant and uncaring mask! I find it funny... I know that we all have masks, who doesn't to keep things away?  
  
But my friend, you should see him at night, walking the halls quietly, peeking into the rooms making sure we're all safe, before he goes to bed. Granted it is only some nights. Other nights, it's Heero. See, told you its charming. No, no, they don't do it all the time... usually it's after the harder missions... I must admit though, I find myself walking the halls at nights doing the very same thing. Duo calls me a worrywart, maybe I am. I can't help it though; I care for them all deeply... They're my family.  
  
Lastly, my gaze drifts back up Deathscythe Hell's massive leg, there is Duo Maxwell, self proclaimed "Shinigami" and American pilot from L2. He's the light of our small group; could also be the darkness if you do something foolish to invoke his Shinigami personality. May Allah have pity on that person's soul for Shinigami surely will not.  
  
Duo's a loveable boy like I said, friendly, out going, overly energized. He has a zeal for life like I've never seen. Every small thing is the wonder of the world for him. He sees things in a light that many do these days. He can find the joy and the upside to any situation. He tries being the jokester for us all, and we appreciate it; even if he gets reversed reactions from his tries... But I think he knows that. He never gives up though. Duo's past is that, a past. He doesn't remember much from his childhood. We all know he was an orphan taken in by a fellow named Solo who meant a great deal to Duo... we found out from his he was taken into an orphanage after Solo had died in the L2 plague... but we don't know anything of what happened after that besides sometime later it was destroyed and he was found as a stowaway on Professor G's shuttle and eventually became the pilot of the mass destruction machine named Deathscythe Hell.  
  
I have come to believe however, that Wufei knows a great deal more about the American pilot then we ever will. Likewise that Duo knows more about Wufei then we do... I could be wrong... but when it comes to some things, that's seldom the case. With those two being in love like they are - shocking isn't it? That people could find love while fighting a battle such as we are? Oh yes, it might be, but it's wonderful amiss the worry that one fight, one mission, one infiltration could go horribly wrong and strip one of us away from the other. That worry is always in our minds, all five of us... We're a team, a family; we rely on each other for support, whether its spoken or not... We would falter in some way if one was lost... The grounds would crumble, the fighting would go on, but we would be forever changed.  
  
This is who we are. This is what we've become. The past is in the past but the future is in our own hands.  
  
A startling cry from above draws me from my musings, "Duo!" I know it was him, I can feel it. The string of curses he let out in several languages that would have made a Sailor proud and the blush on mu cheeks from them also tells me something is dearly wrong with the kind boy. I'm helpless though... cannot do anything from down here.  
  
Trowa wraps his arms around my waist and I lean back, letting him take some of my weight... What's going on up there? There's hissing, a minute later another cry that makes goose bumps crawl up my arms and a shiver run down my spine. It's eerily quiet now... I can hear Wufei's soft spoken voice flow down to us, can't understand it, but he sounds worried? What's going on...? Did Duo injure himself on that mission? Heero had said it went fine... was there something that-  
  
Oh Allah... Duo...  
  
Wufei's coming down on the lift, a fete trying to hold another's body in his arms, they weren't made for two people, let alone one holding another... It's not that draws my attention though, not that Duo's cradled carefully as it made of glass, the worried glint in onyx eyes... but Duo... He looks pale, his hairs mused, shoulders slumped with bruises and cuts about his face... but... I flinch in my loves arms wanting to shut my eyes yet not being able to...  
  
Duo's leg... his right leg... Allah... it's bent, wrongly... Not backwards like it should be, not even slightly towards either side like a normal persons would while being carried... it looked cocked to one side, twisted at a terrible angle, his foot almost facing full right side...  
  
Duo... Gods above what did you do!? This is not good... Allah that's an understatement of the year... I just... "Duo..."  
  
"Maxwell?" I glance towards Heero's monotone voice, watch as his eyes widen a fraction, his hesitant step forward. Sighing sadly I knew, could tell, Heero knew nothing of the American's injury. He was shocked at it, almost not knowing what to do. I smile sadly at him. There's so much to learn about the emotions he was forced to repress... he wants to act, yet is confused on what to do. Probably thinks whatever has happened to the poor boy that it was his fault, his misguided attack that got the other injured. But that's not so. We all know the chances of injury of battle.  
  
"AARRRGG!!"  
  
Physically jumping in the arms that hold me I twist about, facing the lowering pair in time to see Wufei cringe standing up from a crouch; he had to jump the last three foot, jarring Duo's injury. Yet he was still in a semi-blissful unconsciousness from what I could tell.  
  
"Wufei, what happened?" Heero finally snaps out of hit walking forward quickly, eyes searching over the still body.  
  
"I do not know Yuy" sadly shaking his head Wufei said, "My first guess would be he fell or someone attempted to capture him causing Maxwell to twist his knee..." I could see that much as being true, the angle... was alarming. "I fear it is much more though."  
  
Heero nodded back, "Lets get him inside." I could see his fingers itching to do something, but with Duo in Wufei's arms, it was out of his control. He was the most knowledgeable medical person among of other then our own experience and training in first aid. But lets be blunt about it, who else do you know that sets their own bones?  
  
With knowing nothing else could be done for out friend 'til Wufei had him upstairs in on a bed and Heero looked over that leg, the rest of us followed them inside. I'm shaking like a leaf, worrying so much... I think I'll prepare some dinner to keep from being in the way, and to calm down... Yes I'm a soldier, and the wound could heal, I'm sure... but this is my family... I feel they're pain...  
  
I've been told I worry too much and I'm a mother hen... Leave me be. Shaking my head at Trowa's concern I start grabbing for items with his help and together we set on making something to eat while the other two see to their patient and we alone wait for the results.  
  
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Ohh it's laters and ya made it though the story! Congrats! heh Well first chapter of it anyways. ^__^ Whatcha think? I know it's probably not that great, was kinda lost on how to kick it off... Think it'll be better once I get into it more, the second chapter I have a feeling will be slightly better ::crosses 'er fingers:: in that I won't flounder for ideas on kickin' it off, 'cause I know! heh ^_^;  
  
heh The knee thing! Ouchies, ne? Trust me hurts like hell. His more then mine. I twisted my little over a year ago and've been having problems with it ever since, so that's where this little idea all sprung from, always wanted to make someone else have my knee problems. lol ^__^ You'll see where the rest of the idea comes from once I get past chapter two. ^_~ Hope ya liked! I'll work to have the other out soon, but I think maybe CP2 will be out first or GWSS5.. heh ideas for both of those are stirrin' up! Have a great one!  
Keep it kickin'!  
  
~ Anime Redneck  
  
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Disclaimer: Ye know I don't own the Guys. I do own meh truck the plot and any songs that happen to show up in it... unless otherwise stated.  
  
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